Two's Company
by EmoEccentrica
Summary: Basically a series of one-shots; pairings and ratings differ in each chapter. Summaries posted before each chapter. This is dedicated to everyone who has read my other HYD fic, Call It Fate!


**Yo minna~ Okay so this is the multi-fic that I promised to my constant reviewers on my other fic, Call It Fate (RuiXTsukushi). This is the first one shot, courtesy of Gertrude (my muse) and dedicated to everyone who has read my other fic, Call It Fate. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Title: Through Thick and Thin**

**Pairings: Implied TsukushiXTsukasa, one sided RuiXTsukushi **

**Summary: Takes place after first season of Hana Yori Dango. Tsukushi goes to visit Tsukasa in New York after not seeing him for several months and stumbles upon a hideous truth. **

**Warnings: Angst, angst and more angst.**

**Rating: T for language**

**IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine**

Tsukushi was running blindly, too distraught to even look where she was going.

"_Leave me alone you ugly bitch; don't you understand? I only was playing with you. I never loved you. That time at the airport… I lied to you. I never imagined you'd follow me all the way to New York."_

Tsukushi stumbled slightly but kept on running, hating every moment that she cried for that idiot. Why had she ever believed that Tsukasa had ever loved her? Why had she fallen for him? He was selfish, stupid and cruel. She had known that from the get go! But instead what did she do? She fell in love with the idiot instead of bringing him to his knees! She fell for him and now that it was over, she couldn't stop the painful throbbing in her chest which meant that her heart was being shattered into a million tiny shards. She had never meant to get involved with him so deeply… She had never thought that she could love someone so much…

Tsukushi stumbled again, this time failing to regain her balance; she fell onto the hard concrete, ripping her jeans and as a result scraping her knees. Tsukushi got up unsteadily, wincing at the pain in her legs. Bravely she wiped the tears from her eyes and walked towards the park across the street, seeing a vacant bench.

It was stupid, she thought to herself. It was stupid of her to fall for all of his tricks. He had played her like a violin and then thrown her away. Numbness began to take over, pushing back the pain like anesthetic. Slowly the anger directed at both Tsukasa and herself dissipated, leaving her mind blissfully silent. This is what she needed; to think clearly, and stop blaming herself. At least that's what she told herself. A small part of herself was screaming in pain, and despite the sound being muffled by the indifference that had consumed her, it still made her wince a bit in pain. She shouldn't have come to New York. Maybe it would've been better to have continued living a lie, after all, believing that Tsukasa loved her hurt a lot less than this did.

**IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine**

Rui walked down the street, fishing his phone out of his pocket and trying to remember what room number Tsukasa's apartment was. He needed to know if Makino had made it safely to his curly haired friend or if he had to begin a man hunt for the lost girl. Rui stopped, and was about to call Tsukasa when he felt a sliver of self-loathing work it's way into his heart.

Sighing he looked up at the still bright sky of New York, unsurprised that he couldn't see the moon in this mad town, wondering why he had bothered to come after Makino in the first place. He had long since sworn off the girl, knowing that his friend truly loved her- or at least that's what Tsukasa claimed. Rui closed his phone and continued strolling down the street, foregoing the call he had been about to make to Tsukasa; a lump had risen into his throat, constricting his airway and consequently his ability to speak coherently.

If he was being honest with himself, which he so rarely was, he had loved the girl at first sight even though at the time he had been devoted to Shizuka. No, he amended himself, he had been _intrigued. _The feelings of affection had come later- even if he hadn't realized they existed until after it was too late. Rui sighed again and sunk down onto a vacant bench, putting off the inevitable. He had fought back for a while, taking Tsukushi out on that date for instance. He had given up when he realized how completely in love the girl was. However, when Tsukasa left, the less noble part of him wished that his friend would screw up… Screw up so badly that his relationship with Makino would be over; but then he realized how much it would hurt Makino if that were to happen, so he had silenced that increasingly selfish voice. It had helped some, but he couldn't help but yearn for the girl. Every time he looked at her, a sharp stab of pain would wound his already mutilated heart and injure it further, making it hard for him to smile for her.  
Rui knew he was only a friend to the girl, one of her closest ones if he were being pessimistic. He had already gone past the point where romance was an option. He couldn't even bring himself to imagine holding her hand, the longing was so intense.

"_It's the Almighty! Answer your phone Rui!"_

Rui broke out of his reverie and opened his phone, glaring at the caller ID for a few moments before answering.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Oy, Rui are you in New York yet?"

"Un. I was about to call you because I forgot your apartment number."

There was silence and then the sound of something clattering to the floor.

"OY RUI! LOOK UP!"

Rui felt an amused smile form on his face despite the anxiety that had been gnawing at his stomach since he'd gotten off the plane. Tsukasa had his head stuck out a window and was waving madly to him; well it was to be expected- they hadn't seen each other in quite some time. Rui snapped his phone shut and made his way up to the top floor, and presumably Tsukasa's penthouse.

_(An elevator ride later)_

Rui stared at the gaudy looking gold door, wondering why he hadn't been expecting this; it was Tsukasa after all. He shuddered though, not sure of what to expect inside the large room. He raised his hand and was about to knock when the door opened, revealing a more sober Tsukasa, no longer as giddy as he had been when he was yelling to Rui earlier. Rui mentally chuckled; Tsukasa had probably realized what an idiot he looked like after the fact.

"Yo."

"Yo,"

There was a short awkward silence, quickly broken by the sound of a 'ding'. Rui raised his eyebrow at the sound. He had never seen Tsukasa use a microwave; to be honest he didn't even think his friend knew how to operate a microwave.

"You're making your own food?"

Rui was a bit more than curious. As far as he knew, Tsukasa had never prepared a meal for himself in his entire life.

"Yea. My maid quit today because I was a 'sexist pig'."

Rui chuckled at that; the maid had hit the nail on the head. There were many things his friend was and a sexist pig was indeed one of them. Tsukasa looked at his friend resentfully, as though he knew exactly what his friend was thinking and then motioned for Rui to come in. Rui looked around the living room, glad that it wasn't as gaudy as the door. He took a seat on a leather sofa across the room, directly facing the TV and settled in, waiting for Tsukasa to come back. Tsukasa walked into the room, carrying a bowl full of what was obviously the American version of ramen and sat down next to Rui, setting down the hot dish.

"So how have things been Rui?"

There was a slight note of concern in his friend's voice, which surprised Rui more than anything. Tsukasa was never that blatant with his feelings, and like him kept the majority of them to himself.

"Good; actually there's a reason I came."

Tsukasa picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to slurp up the hot noodles rather noisily, obviously waiting for him to elaborate.

"Makino came to New York looking for you and I'm worried because knowing her she probably got lost."

Tsukasa stopped in mid-slurp and put down the chopsticks.

"She found me alright…"

Rui felt the pit of anxiety gnaw a little bit harder.

"What do you mean by that? What happened Tsukasa?"

Rui stood up, suspicion beginning to dawn on the red head. Something was bothering his friend… That much was apparent; but what did it have to do with Makino.

"I cheated on Makino with the maid…"

Tsukasa stood up, head hung whether in anger or in repentance Rui didn't know.

"…and Makino walked in on us."

Rui felt himself take a step back.

"I didn't know that Makino was serious about keeping up our relationship even though I was so far away… I didn't think she'd come to see me… We were kissing and things were getting steamy and then the door opened… and…"

Rui didn't even blink when he felt his hand connect with Tsukasa's jaw.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING RUI?"

Rui glared up at the idiot boy.

"What am I doing? WHAT ARE _YOU_DOING TSUKASA?"

Rui moved forward and grabbed the front of Tsukasa's shirt, effortlessly lifting the boy off of the ground.

"Makino _loved _you, you idiot! That you all were going to maintain a long distance relationship was _implied _you dumb ass!"

Rui dropped his friend, restraining himself from hitting the boy again, even though every particle of his being was urging him to.

"I'm going to go find her."

Rui didn't even look back as he ran out of Tsukasa's pent house and then down the stairs, not patient enough to wait for the elevator to reach him. All that mattered was finding Tsukushi.

**IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine**

Tsukushi was wandering aimlessly when she heard them.

"Hey pretty lady; how about you come party with us?"

Tsukushi turned around to see a pair of grimy guys in dirty T-shirts leering at her. She turned back around, not able to summon the energy necessary to decline their invitation. She hadn't even taken two steps when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder pulling her back and then hot breath at her ear.

"It's not really nice to snub someone like that; it's bound to get you in trouble and I'd sure _hate_ to see that happen."

Tsukushi felt a shiver of disgust run down her spine, and tried to move out of the guy's grasp.

"Let me go!"

The hot breath was at her ear again.

"I don't think I will; someone needs to treat you a lesson girlie girl."

Another set of hands were pulling at her now and Tsukushi had to put more effort in fighting them off. She was just about to scream for help when the hands disappeared and she heard two consecutive thumps. Tsukushi was about to bolt when someone grabbed her wrist and turned her around; Tsukushi felt her eyes widen as she saw Rui.

"Rui…?"

**IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine-IgnoreMeI'mMerelyALine**

Rui remained silent and pulled Tsukushi to his chest, feeling her tremble slightly. Against his better judgment he had knocked out the guys out of sheer anger, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. All that mattered was that Tsukushi was safe.

"Rui!"

He held Tsukushi as he felt her trembling become even more violent and tears wet his shirt. He held her as she cried, never saying a word throughout it all, knowing that he shouldn't tell her how he felt about her… at least not at that moment. It would confuse her even more than she already was.

Against his will, his arms slackened and she looked up at him, eyes red from crying. Fighting with himself, he leaned down until his lips met her forehead and then he moved his mouth to her ear so that only she could hear him.

"I will always be here for you Tsukushi; I'll always protect you… No matter what."

He couldn't tell her that he loved her, but for now… just being able to be the one who comforted her… the one who healed her… That was enough for him… At least it was for now.


End file.
